Patch panel

ABSTRACT

A stacked patch panel comprising two plates, such as printed circuit board, each provided with cable connectors and a separate supporting plate, made of rigid material, such as metal. The upper portion of the cable connectors of the lower plate lie in a plane adjacent to or below that of the bottom portion of the upper plate. The panel is also provided with means to anchor the cables and with means to hold the plates in relative alignment and to attach them to a supporting rack.

The present application is a continuation-in-part application of PCTApplication PCT/IL02/00164, filed Mar. 4, 2002, which claims priorityfrom Israeli patent application IL 142157, filed Mar. 21, 2001.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of electrical signalconnections for computer networks. More specifically the inventionrelates to an improvement over existing designs of patch panels.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Local area computer networks (LANS) used today in governmental andprivate office buildings, educational institutions, banks, etc. consistof a central network equipment, such as a hub or switch, connected to alarge number varying from tens to thousands of personal computers, orworkstations, that are widely spread within the office, building, oreven at much more remotely located locations. All users of the LAN areconnected to each other and to the central computing and memory storageof the system by either copper or fiber optic cables. The function ofthe patch panel is to assist in making fast and simple changes in theinterconnections of the multitude of patch cords and cables in thesystem between users and network equipment.

It is a purpose of this invention to provide a patch panel thatovercomes the limitation of the prior art by doubling the number ofconnection that can be made in the same amount of space occupied byexisting patch panels of standard dimensions according to the EIA RS310-C Standard (November 1977).

It is another purpose of the present invention to provide a patch panelin which the PCB plates be easily removed for maintenance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards a stacked patch panelcomprising two plates each provided with cable connectors and a separatesupporting plate, wherein the upper portion of the cable connectors ofthe lower plate lie in a plane adjacent or below that of the bottomportion of the upper plate. The panel being further provided with meansto anchor the cables and with means to hold the plates in relativealignment and to attach them to a supporting rack.

In one embodiment of the invention each of the two plates is a printedcircuit board and the supporting plates are made of rigid material suchsteel, other metals, plastic materials, etc. The cable connectors arestandard connectors for copper or optical fiber cables.

All the above and other characteristics and advantages of the inventionwill be further understood through the following illustrative andnon-limitative description of several embodiments thereof, withreference to the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated asthe same becomes better understood by reference to the followingdetailed description when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of the user side of a typical LAN;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the front, side, and top of thepatch panel of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing the plates that make up the patchpanel of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

FIG. 1 schematically shows the main elements of the user side of atypical local area network (LAN). Patch cords 2 connect between the hubor switch 1 and the patch panel 3. From the patch panel, cables 4conduct the signals to and from the individual workstations 6 throughthe communication outlets 5.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the main features of the device of the invention,which is generally designated by numeral 3 in FIG. 2. As shown in theexploded view of FIG. 3, the patch panel of the invention is made up offour separate plates. The two plates, designated by numeral 28 in FIG.3, are made of a suitable rigid material, for example steel or plasticmaterial, and are used to support the other two plates and attachedcables.

The two plates designated by numeral 27 in FIGS. 2 and 3 are PrintedCircuit Boards that provide the electrical continuity between the“front” 21 and “back” 23 connector devices, that are mounted on the topof the board. The front side connectors 21 connect to the patch cords(FIG. 1) and are standard connectors, for example RJ45 jacks. The cables4 (FIG. 1) connect to connector devices 23, which can be any suitabledevice such as 110 connection modules or Krone modules. The aboveexamples are suitable for the case of copper cables; but, as will beunderstood by the skilled person, standard connectors are provided inother embodiments of the invention for connecting optical fibers.

The two supporting plates 28 are not present in conventional patchpanels which typically comprise only one such plate because of therequirements of maintenance and installation that typically require morespace. In the present invention, the basic building block consists ofthe stacked arrangement shown in FIG. 2. By proper choice of theconnector devices and the insertion of plates 28 between the circuitboards, the plates can be placed one upon the other and, in theparticular illustrated embodiment of the invention shown in the figures,it is such that the top plate is supported by the connector devices ofthe bottom plate. However, other arrangements can be provided, which donot require support by the connectors.

The plates 27 and 28 may include bores 33 and 43 at the back side ofeach plate. All panels bores 33 and 43, of the plates 27 and 28, areessentially aligned when they are placed one upon the other, that can beused to hold the plates in relative alignment and prevent displacementsby utilizing vertical mounting elements. This arrangement of theinvention is particularly beneficial for maintenance since the PCBplates 27 can be easily released and removed from the panel by removingthe vertical mounting elements.

It has been found that creating this stacked arrangement leads to noundesirable effects or deterioration of electrical performance overconventional patch panels. By means of this arrangement, twice as manyconnection points are made available per unit height. The unit height,one standard Unit (1U) is defined according to the EIA RS 310-C Standard(November 1977).

Numeral 24 designates anchoring points that are an integral part ofplates 28. The function of these anchoring points is to assist with thetask of cable routing and to provide a place for clamping or tying downthe cables (strain relief feature). Numeral 26 designates rack-mountingears which are designed to hold the two portions of the panel on aconventional rack.

Numeral 22 designates a LED that is associated with each of theconnector devices 21. Two 26-pin connectors, designated by numeral 25,are provided on each circuit board 27. The connectors 25 and LEDs 22 areoptional devices not relevant to the present invention, but are parts ofa system (described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,467 by the same applicant)used to manage the network cable connections.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described by way ofillustration, it will be understood that the invention may be carriedout with many variations, modifications, and adaptations, withoutdeparting from its spirit or exceeding the scope of the claims.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in light of the above teachings. The invention may bepracticed otherwise than as specifically described within the scope ofthe appended claims.

1. A one-unit (1U) stacked patch panel comprising: a lower portionhaving a first group of front-side cable connectors arranged in a lowerrow and back connectors arranged in a row adjacent to said lower row,wherein said lower portion comprises a carrying plate to hold said firstgroup of front-side cable connectors and back connectors and a supportplate below said carrying plate; and an upper portion stacked above saidlower portion, said upper portion having a second group of front-sidecable connectors arranged in an upper row above said lower row and backconnectors arranged in a row adjacent to said upper row, wherein saidpatch panel has a vertical height of one standard Unit (1U).
 2. Thepatch panel of claim 1, wherein said carrying plate is a printed circuitboard.
 3. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein said front-side cableconnectors are RJ45 jacks.
 4. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein saidlower portion comprises 24 cable connectors.
 5. The patch panel of claim1, wherein said lower portion has a height of substantially halfstandard Unit.
 6. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein said upper portioncomprises 24 cable connectors.
 7. The patch panel of claim 1, whereinsaid upper portion has a height of substantially half standard Unit. 8.The patch panel of claim 1, wherein said support plate is made of arigid material.
 9. The patch panel of claim 8 wherein the rigid materialis a metal.
 10. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein said upper portioncomprises a carrying plate to hold said second group of front-side cableconnectors and back connectors and a support plate below said carryingplate.
 11. The patch panel of claim 10, wherein said carrying plate is aprinted circuit board.
 12. The patch panel of claim 10, wherein saidback connectors are 110 connection modules or Krone modules.
 13. Thepatch panel of claim 10, wherein said support plate is made of a metal.